Andrew Shulman - Cellist and Conductor
Andrew Shulman, first British winner of the 'Piatigorsky Artist Award', comes from London, England. Shulman's careers as 'cellist and conductor have taken him all over the world. As soloist, he has directed and performed all the major 'cello concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the City of Birmingham Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Utah Symphony, the Singapore Symphony and orchestras all over Europe, the United States and the Far East, as well as giving recitals in such places as the Wigmore Hall, London "Debussy's 'Cello Sonata, played with fastidious poetry of phrase and technique" (The Times), The Royal Palace in Stockholm, and Buckingham Palace, London (performing 'The Swan' with the Prima Ballerina of the Bolshoi, in the presence of The Prince of Wales). He has also performed Strauss' great tone poem 'Don Quixote' twice at the Royal Festival Hall, London (with Sir Simon Rattle and Benjamin Zander) "The Don Quixote was the finest I have heard" (The Sunday Times) and the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles (with Esa-Pekka Salonen) "Philharmonic principal 'cellist Andrew Shulman's Quixote was always eloquent and passionate" (Los Angeles Times). Last season he gave several performances of Barber's notorious 'cello concerto "And making his Utah Symphony debut is Andrew Shulman, who gave a fabulously nuanced and impassioned performance of the (Barber) concerto...Shulman's interpretation was of the highest caliber in terms of articulation and delivery. His technical mastery was such that he made short work of the demands Barber placed on the soloist" (Salt Lake Tribune) (click this link to hear the live recording of this performance) He also performed Bloch's 'Schelomo' at two days notice "Cellist Andrew Shulman joined the CRSO and Tiemeyer for an intense, spirited performance of Ernest Bloch's "Schelomo", Hebraic rhapsody for cello and orchestra...His flawless performance of "Schelomo" was eloquent and passionate" (Cedar Rapids Gazette) (click this link to hear the live recording of this performance)
Born into a family of professional musicians (his father plays Contrabass and his mother is an opera singer) Shulman studied 'cello and composition at the Royal Academy and the Royal College of Music in London and after winning the major 'cello prizes there, in addition to the "Madame Suggia Gift" and the "Royal Society of Arts" prize, was appointed solo 'cello of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, before being offered the first chair position with London's Philharmonia Orchestra, at the age of 22, by conductor Riccardo Muti. He has performed as soloist with Sir Simon Rattle, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Semyon Bychcov, Franz Welser-Möst and Esa-Pekka Salonen, amongst others. He has also recorded over twenty-five CD's as 'cellist of the Britten Quartet (exclusive to EMI Records), Vivaldi 'cello concertos for Virgin Classics (click this link to hear this recording "One of the high points of the disc for me is Andrew Shulman's cello playing in the elegiac Concerto in C minor (Vivaldi RV401); and he is sensitively supported by the (London Chamber) Orchestra" (The Gramophone Magazine), Janacek's 'Pohadka', again for EMI, (click this link to hear this recording) 'cello works by Delius (a world premiere recording) and was solo 'cello on Elton John's 'Candle in the Wind 1997', a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, the highest selling single of all time.
Shulman was bestowed with an 'Honorary RCM' by The Queen Mother in 1986, and subsequently became a professor at the historic Royal College of Music in London. He has since given masterclasses all over the world, including Western and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, The Ukraine, The USA, South America, The Far East and New Zealand. In 1990 he won the prestigious 'Piatigorsky Artist Award' at the New England Conservatory in Boston, and returned to the USA on numerous occasions to teach and give concerts. Since coming to Los Angeles he has given many classes, among them those at the University of Southern California (USC), the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Corwin Awards Masterclass at the Los Angeles Music Center, as well as playing and teaching at the Aspen, Blue Mountain, Ojai, Las Vegas and San Diego's 'Mainly Mozart' festivals.
As conductor, he has performed extensively in the UK, Germany, Ireland and Scandinavia, directing the symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Haydn, Mahler, Mozart, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky "The conductor Andrew Shulman really carried the orchestra along...like a British Leonard Bernstein whose brilliance was still burning in Haydn's 'Philosopher' Symphony. This was of a quality for which one may search but rarely find" (Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung) and major orchestral works by Bartok, Debussy, Dvorak, Elgar, Holst, Ravel, Strauss and Stravinsky. He has given performances of Haydn's symphonies under the auspices of H.C. Robbins Landon at the Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh, with the Britten-Pears Orchestra, and has conducted the world premieres of several orchestral works, including the first ever performance of a previously unpublished work by Benjamin Britten, also with the BPO. He is a regular guest conductor with the Haydn Chamber Orchestra (London), the Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra (Bristol), the Saloman Orchestra (London), the Jonkoping Orchestra (Sweden), the Ambache Chamber Orchestra (London), the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra (London), the Royal College of Music Chamber Orchestra (London), the RCM String Ensemble (London) and the Ulster Youth Orchestra (Ireland), as well as directing the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and the London Chamber Orchestra in concerto performances from the solo cello chair. In the field of opera, he has conducted Mozart's 'Marriage of Figaro' (1998) and 'Cosi Fan Tutte' (2000) in immensely successful new productions at the Theatre Royal, Bristol.
In 1999 he was appointed first chair cello of the Los Angeles Philharmonic "The new principal 'cellist, Andrew Shulman, whose influence on the string section is beginning to make itself heard...The 'cellos, brilliantly powerful" (Los Angeles Times) and also resumed his activities as one of the most sought after solo 'cellists working in the TV and Movie music industry. At the end of 2002 he left the Philharmonic in order to expand his solo, chamber music, teaching and conducting activities still further, having made his family's home in the beautiful Santa Monica Mountains.
Technology and design supplied by babserv